Armeegruppe was a historical type of major formation of German military history, in use in the Imperial German Army during World War I and the Wehrmacht during World War II.
While the term literally translates as army group, the German-language equivalent of an English-language army group is Heeresgruppe. Whereas a Heeresgruppe-type army group was designed to be permanent, an Armeegruppe-type army group was usually an ad hoc formation for a specific military task. Typically, Armeegruppe-type formations were short-lived.
Whereas Heeresgruppe-type formations were typically named after a geographic region (such as Heeresgruppe Courland), geographic direction (such as Heeresgruppe North) or even named by simple letters (such as Army Group A), Armeegruppe-type army groups were typically named after their commanding general, e.g. Army Group Steiner was named after Felix Steiner.
Armeegruppe-type formations during World War I
editArmeegruppe-type formations during World War II
editOverview
editThe Wehrmacht of World War II was peculiar compared to the German army of World War I due to its much stronger inclusion of allied armed forces (such as the Royal Italian Army or Royal Hungarian Army), and Armeegruppe-type army groups were once again revived to serve as ad hoc combinations of an army-level command, typically German, which would take the lead, and a second army-level command, typically of another Axis country, which would be subordinate. Exceptions from this rule were Army Group Dumitrescu, when a non-German army (in this case 3rd Romanian Army) was superior to a German army (in this case 6th Army) and Army Group Felber, which was only of corps-strength and would typically have been referred to as a 'Gruppe' rather than 'Armeegruppe' if Wehrmacht precedent had been followed more closely. Additionally, Army Group G and Army Group Liguria were not named after commanders but instead after a letter or a region, respectively; Army Group G was later upgraded to Heeresgruppe-level.[1]: 12f.
List
edit| German name | Translated name | Namesake of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armeegruppe Antonescu | Army Group Antonescu | Ion Antonescu | German 11th Army, Romanian 3rd Army, Romanian 4th Army; invasion force from Romania during the early days of Operation Barbarossa (1941).[2] |
| Armeegruppe Balck | Army Group Balck | Hermann Balck | Previously "Army Group Fretter-Pico" (see below); designation in early 1945 for German 6th Army and Hungarian 3rd Army.[3]: 5 |
| Armeegruppe Blumentritt | Army Group Blumentritt | Günther Blumentritt | Formed in the final days of the war to oversee the German forces along the North Sea coast.[1]: 13 |
| Armeegruppe Dumitrescu | Army Group Dumitrescu | Petre Dumitrescu | Union of Romanian 3rd Army and German 6th Army in April to July 1944.[1]: 12 |
| Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico | Army Group Fretter-Pico | Maximilian Fretter-Pico | September 1944 designation; union of German 6th Army and Hungarian 2nd Army (November 1944: Hungarian 3rd Army); from January 1945 "Armeegruppe Balck" (see above).[3]: 5 |
| Armeegruppe Felber | Army Group Felber | Hans Felber | Corps-size formation, restructured from LXXXIII Army Corps; 21 May 1942 – 26 August 1943; subsequently became 19th Army.[4]: 111 |
| Armeegruppe Frießner | Army Group Frießner | Johannes Frießner | |
| Armeegruppe G | Army Group G | N/A | Union of German 1st Army and German 19th Army; became Heeresgruppe-type on 12 September 1944.[1]: 13 |
| Armeegruppe Guderian | Army Group Guderian | Heinz Guderian | Alternative name for Panzer Group Guderian, which in turn was an alternate name for the strengthened 2nd Panzer Group,[1]: 12 which in turn became the 2nd Panzer Army. |
| Armeegruppe Heinrici | Army Group Heinrici | Gotthard Heinrici | Union of German 1st Panzer Army and Hungarian 1st Army in the Carpathians, inserted on right wing of Army Group A (Josef Harpe).[5]: 498 August/October 1944 and January 1945.[6]: 5 |
| Armeegruppe Hoth | Army Group Hoth | Hermann Hoth | |
| Armeegruppe Ligurien | Army Group Liguria | N/A | |
| Armeegruppe Kleist | Army Group Kleist | Ewald von Kleist | Alternative name for Panzer Group Kleist. |
| Armeegruppe Raus | Army Group Raus | Erhard Raus | |
| Armeegruppe Ruoff | Army Group Ruoff | Richard Ruoff | |
| Armeegruppe Steiner | Army Group Steiner | Felix Steiner | Formed in the final days of the war in the vicinity of Berlin to assist during the Battle of Berlin.[1]: 13 |
| Armeegruppe Student | Army Group Student | Kurt Student | |
| Armeegruppe Weichs | Army Group Weichs | Maximilian von Weichs | |
| Armeegruppe Wöhler | Army Group Wöhler | Otto Wöhler |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Tessin, Georg (1977). Die Waffengattungen - Gesamtübersicht. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945 (in German). Vol. 1. Osnabrück: Biblio. ISBN 3764810971.
- ^ Hausleitner, Mariana; et al. (2018). Slowakei, Rumänien, Bulgarien. Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933–1945 (in German). Vol. 13. De Gruyter Oldenbourg. ISBN 9783110495201.
- ^ a b Tessin, Georg (1967). Die Landstreitkräfte 006–014. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945 (in German). Vol. 3. Frankfurt/Main: Verlag E. S. Mittler & Sohn GmbH. ISBN 3764809426.
- ^ Tessin, Georg (1970). Die Landstreitkräfte 015–030. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945 (in German). Vol. 4. Frankfurt/Main: Verlag E. S. Mittler & Sohn GmbH. ISBN 3764810831.
- ^ Lakowski, Richard. "Der Zusammenbruch der deutschen Verteidigung zwischen Ostsee und Karpaten". In Müller, Rolf-Dieter (ed.). Die Militärische Niederwerfung der Wehrmacht (in German). Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. pp. 491–680.
- ^ Tessin, Georg (1966). Die Landstreitkräfte 001–005 (in German). Frankfurt/Main: Verlag E. S. Mittler & Sohn GmbH. ISBN 3764808713.